Counting on Forever
by landofthesnakes
Summary: Sequel to 'All I Want." Following Callie and Brandon as they continue their lives together, searching for the meaning of forever but they both know it's not easy.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you mad at me?" I watched him as he reached out his arm to turn off the beside lamp. Brandon had his shirt off and I could see every muscle flex doing the small task. Once the light was gone, I could no longer see him. "I will take that as a yes." I sighed and placed the book I was reading on the beside table closest to my side of our bed.

"No, Callie I'm not mad." I felt him face away from me, leaving me to nothing but his back. He pulled the comforter up as I laid myself down. It had been a year since we had both graduated from college and began to rent this apartment. Time was flying too quickly so I had to be the one to slow it down. This was me putting up my shield the way that I always had.

I ran my hands reassuringly up and down his back. "You know, I know we decided to wait until marriage to have sex and I'm sorry." I did feel bad. Deep down, I really, truly did. After our moms' wedding we agreed to wait until after we became married to have sex with each other. This left Brandon still a virgin and me still only 'given' to Liam.

"You think this is what this is about?" He flipped himself over so he was facing me. He took a strand of hair that had fallen out of my pony tail and twirled it in his fingers. "Callie, if I wanted to just have sex with you, I would have asked to just have sex with you. I wouldn't have asked you to marry me."

"Are you mad that I said no?" It was true. Brandon made this big gesture at our moms' house tonight. Jesus and Lexi, Mariana and her boyfriend, and Jude were all there when he got down on one knee. Since the day I met him I had been waiting for him to get down on one knee and ask me yet here I was saying no.

He pulled me into him and leaned his cold forehead against my own. "I could never be mad at you Callie. We're still young and I understand your hesitation about getting married right away. You saying no is not going to change anything for me."

I felt the smile growing on my face and I knew this is where I belonged. "Wanna go grab some ice cream?"

"Callie, it's 2 am." He groaned.

"Oh come on, I grabbed some when I went food shopping earlier." I flipped the light switch on as I reached the doorway to our bedroom. I looked back at Brandon who was reluctantly climbing out of the bed and putting his slippers on. "God, I am living with an old man."

"And I am living with a woman who is so domestic. Grocery shopping, huh?" He raised an eyebrow at me and tried to hide his laughter. I loved that face.

"Get downstairs and get me ice cream before I eat it all."  
"Damn, someone is testy tonight." Brandon laughed as he walked past me and went downstairs.

Our apartment was small. It was nothing special. It had a tiny kitchen with cherry oak colored cabinets and a small island counter. We spent most of our time in the kitchen so it had to be big enough for both of us to be able to maneuver around at least. It had a living room and two bedrooms for when Mariana, Jesus, or Jude wanted to visit. It was just right for the two of us getting our own place. Luckily, it was only the town over from moms and Lisa. We were entirely grateful.

"Chocolate chip or moose tracks?"

"Is that even a question?" I asked as I grabbed two bowls and two spoons from their respected places.

"Moose tracks it is." He laughed as he took the carton out and closed the freezer. I walked over and kissed his cheek. "But I do have a valid question."

"What's that?" I asked as I scooped out a spoonful of ice cream and fed it to Brandon.

"Will you ever want to marry me?" He looked hurt as he asked the question. This was clearly something that made him uncomfortable.

"I do want to marry you."

"Then why did you say no?"

"I'm not ready yet."

"Fair enough."

And that's where we left it. He was never one to push an argument and that's why I loved him. We finished our ice cream, put the dishes in the sink, crawled back into bed and kissed each other goodnight. We had forever to be together and as far as I knew, forever wasn't ending anytime soon. I did not want to rush things. We had just rented our first place and we needed to slow down. Brandon was mine and I was his and there was no changing that. At least I hope not.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning with the thought in my head that maybe I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I rolled over to lay on Brandon's chest only to find that he had already left for the day. I slumped of the bed and slowly walked down to the living room to watch television.

As of now, I was unemployed.I just graduated three months ago and unfortunately, I picked a degree that was not exactly a money maker at the moment. I counted my blessings that Brandon had a steady job as a music instructor at the charter school. It helped with the bills and gave us time to plan while he waited to be accepted by the academy.

It was a big decision we decided on together. Brandon decided that if were going to have a family at some point, he wanted to protect them in a way that a music teacher could not. After many fights and sleepless nights, I gave in under one condition. If he was to get hurt even once, he was out.

When I entered the living room, I found a small stuffed animal sitting on the coffee table. I smiled at the small Toto dog from the Wizard of Oz. Since agreeing to the academy, Brandon has been leaving me small surprises around the house. Usually there would be a note attached but not today.

I called Brandon and he answered on the third ring. "Do you like it?" I shook my head, he was so impatient he couldn't even say hello."

"Of course I do. I love it but no note?"

"Not today." He dead panned as if it was completely normal.

"Well, why not?"

"Cause I figured I would just tell you what this gift was."

"Okay." The line went silent for a few minutes. I knew this was Brandon's way of thinking things over. A bell that was all too familiar rang over the phone, indicating the next period was about to begin.

"Listen, Cal, I have to run but we can talk over dinner. Chinese?"

"Yea, Chinese sounds good but Brandon wait -"

"I love you Callie, talk to you tonight." The line went dead and I signed in frustration. Nothing annoyed me more than when Brandon rushed through our conversations. He was so lucky I loved him.

* * *

Brandon came home at half past four with six containers of my favorite things from the local Chinese restaurant.  
"So how was your day?" I took my first bite of rice and looked at the clock. I never understood why we ate this early every night but I decided to pick and chose my battles with Brandon.

"It was alright. Fifth graders had field trips today so I had a few free periods."

"Well that's good , but I want to know about the dog now."

He set down his fork and knife and smiled at me. "I was thinking maybe we could get a real dog, you know?"

"Wait, really?" I smiled as I watched him slowly nod at me, studying my face. "Why now?"

For months, I have been begging Brandon to adopt a dog with me, but he never would.

"I figured you would need a watch dog while I was at the academy."

"You got in?" It was barely a whisper. I needed to repeat it again to make sure I didn't imagine myself saying it.

"Yes Callie, I got in, I was accepted." The smile on his face could have put the moon to shame.

I jumped out of my chair and ran over to him. Straddling him, I placed my head into the crook of his neck and kissed it three times. Finally, tears swelled in my eyes and I held his face in my hands. "You did it baby, you did it."

"No, baby, we did it."

Since the day I entered the Fosters' home, he was my hero. Now, he was going to be our cities hero. One day, he would even be the hero to our children. I have never loved him as much as I did right in this very moment, watching all of his dreams come true.

* * *

Ok! So as you can tell this story is kind of slow to take off but I'm just trying to create the baseline for the plot. I know where I want it to go but from all I want until now, they are 5 years older so I need to create entirely new characters, ya know? But...It will get better and speed up, I can promise you that! Enjoy! xx.


	3. Chapter 3

I loved the way her eyes lit up and her nose scrunched together when she tapped on the glass window, attempting to play with the puppies in the kennels. After a half an hour spent searching through nine different kennels, Callie had narrowed her options down to about...nine.  
Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing her happy, I really, truly did and if this was something I would need to be okay with to make her happy, I would be. I stood behind and let her make her choice. She spent about ten minutes at every window, asking me a question but never waiting for me to answer as she moved onto the next one. My hands found my way into the pockets of my jeans and I fiddled with the ring that I had put back into my pocket for safe keeping. There was no doubt in my mind that Callie and I would be married, it was just a matter of when.  
When I was accepted into the academy, I thought it was the right move. It would give her the sense of security that she needed but then I remembered that deep down, as much as it pained me to say, Callie didn't really need anything. Even when we were kids she was always self sufficient and although she wanted security back then, she didn't need it. She certainly didn't need me, but I was glad that she stayed with me anyway. We got lucky, I think. We found each other and I wanted to finalize that in a way but Callie was the type that didn't want that. I needed to be okay with that.  
After an hour, I began to grow impatient. "Callie, honey, you have to decide at some point." I let out a small chuckle and the two employees behind the counter rolled their eyes at me.  
She smiled as she turned on her heals and pointed at one of the lower kennels. "I want her." Inside, there was a black and white 2 year old Siberian Husky with bright blue eyes. "She's perfect." She said as she walked out of the pet store, leaving me to do the rest.

* * *

"What are we going to name her?" I asked as I unhooked the leash and threw the car keys on the kitchen counter.

"Daisy, of course." She shrugged nonchalantly and walked into the bathroom, starting the shower. I walked in as she was stepping in. "I hate when you do that you know." She pretended to be mad, but she laughed as she threw her head under the water.

I leaned against our sink and watched her tentatively. It amazed me how much had changed over six years. This was so unlike the Callie I had first met. I loved that she opened up to me a bit more everyday.

"So, why Daisy?"

"It was my dogs name when I was younger." She turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. Slowly, she made her way to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I quickly picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist. In that moment, I didn't care that she had nothing wrapped around her or that I was getting drenched in the water falling from her hair, all I cared about was her. I turned around and sat her on the edge of the sink. She put her head into my neck and mumbled incoherent words.

I pulled her away and held her head in my hands. She seemed to lean into me as I asked, "What was that?"

"I said I'm worried about you starting at the academy." She buried her head back into mine and I sighed. Silently, I picked her up and carried out of the bathroom and into our bedroom. I laid her down on the bed and crawled over her, staring into her eyes.

"If you don't want me to go, I won't go."

"No, no that's not it at all." She looked nervous as she aggressively shook her head at my accusation. "Not at all." She repeated.

"Then what is it, Callie?"

"I've just been thinking a lot lately about what happens if something goes wrong." Callie shifted underneath me. I rolled onto my side so I was able to lay beside her and take her hand into mine.

"Nothing is going to go wrong Callie, I promise."

"Don't promise something you know you can't keep, Brandon but that's still not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean Callie?" She avoided eye contact with so I climbed back on top of her. "Hey, talk to me."

"I want to marry you."

I replayed the words in my mind a dozen times before I finally let them make sense. "You what?"

"I said I want to marry you. I don't want you to go to the academy and join the force and not be married to me. I want to be your wife. I need to be you wife."

"Callie, you don't need to be my wife if you don't want to be."

"Brandon, I don't think you're listening to me, I want to be your wife." She took my face in her hands and kissed me three times. She is perfect.

I took the ring out of my pocket and opened the box. "Callie, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

I had seen Callie cry many times before but this was the type that didn't break my heart like the others did. I let my lips fall onto hers and Daisy barked outside of our door...


End file.
